“Another Insane Devotion: On the Love of Cats and Persons” by Peter Trachtenberg ’74
Nonfiction - Memoir / Da Capo, 2012
Trachtenberg searches for his missing cat and discourses on the mysteries of love, both feline and human.
“Why Photographers Commit Suicide” by Mary Ladd MFA ’97
Poetry /Trementina Books, 2012
In her collection of narrative and lyric poetry, Ladd re-examines the idea of Manifest Destiny and explores the human longing for space, new territories, and home.
“Cutting Time with a Knife” by Michael Leong MFA ’03
Poetry / Black Square Editions, 2012
Leong mixes science and art in his new collection of poems, organized around the periodic table of elements.
“The Sunshine When When She’s Gone” by Thea Goodman ’91
Fiction / Henry Holt and Co., 2013
When Veronica Reed wakes up to find her husband and baby gone, she thinks they just went out to breakfast. Little does she know that her husband has fled to the Caribbean for some R&R. Told through alternating points of view, the book explores the life-changing impact of parenthood on a couple.
“Ink” by Sabrina Vourvoulias ’83
Fiction/Cross Genres 2002
In a fictional future, the US institutes a population control system for immigrants, temporary workers, and permanent residents. The characters struggle to reconcile politics, power, race, class, and religion and come to terms with the values of community and home.
“The Trusting Heart” by Michael Aanavi ’88
Nonfiction/Chiron, 2012
Expounding on Carl Jun’s idea of pistis, the “trusting heart,” Aanavi takes his readers on a journey, through his own experience his drug addition and how he was able to triumph over it by recovering his ability to trust himself.
“River of Dust” by Virginia Pye MFA ’87
Fiction-Historical/ Unbridled Books, 2013
A missionary couple in northwestern China lose their son when Mongol bandits invade their town and must such the Chinese countryside for their missing child.
“Sex Changes: A Memoir of Marriage, Gender, and Moving On” by Christine Benvenuto ’82
Nonfiction-Memoir/ St. Martin’s 2012
Christine Benvenuto had been married for more than 20 years—with three young children—when her husband turned to her one night in bed and said, “I’m thinking constantly about my gender.” Here she chronicles the mysteries in every marriage, the secrets we choose to keep, and the freedom that the truth can bring.
“Child Care in Black and White: Working Parents and the History of Orphanages” by Jessie Ramey MA ’02
Nonfiction/ University of Illinois, 2012
This book investigates the link between class/gender/race inequalities in the late 1800s, the rise of orphanages, and how families used these institutions as a form of child care in trying times.
“The Whole Fish: How Adventurous Eating of Seafood Can Make You Healthier, Sexier, and Help Save the Ocean” by Maria Finn MFA ’95
Nonfiction/TED Conferences, 2012
Finn explains the benefits of eating fish from “gill to adipose fin.”
“The Beautiful Anthology” by Elizabeth Collins ’93
Nonfiction and Poetry / TNB Books, 2012
Beauty means different things to different people. In this collection of poems, essays, and artworks, today’s emerging artists write about what is beautiful to them, offering a whole new perspective on the meaning of beauty.
“Don’t Knock Unless You’re Bleeding: Growing Up in Cold War Washington” by Elizabeth Winthrop Alsop ‘70
Nonfiction/ Eisforbook, 2012
As the daughter and niece of the Alsop brothers, legendary columnists and power brokers, the author chronicles dinner parties with presidents and cocktails with stockbrokers, offering a rare glimpse into the politics of Cold War Washington.
“Rebels by Accident” by Patricia Dunn MFA ’98
Fiction/ Alikai, 2012
When 16-year-old Mariam is sent to Cairo to visit her grandma, she is sure her life is over. But when a girl calls the people of Egypt to protest, Mariam finds herself in the middle of a revolution, running from tear gas and guns … and falling in love.